Ireland key to Analog Devices re-org, promotionsNews & Analysis 11/2/2009 Post a commentAnalog Devices Inc. (Norwood, Mass.) has created two groups as part of an organizational change. Both will be led by executives who began their careers with ADI in Ireland, where the company has had a presence for many years.

MIPS debuts new cores, instruction setProduct News 11/2/2009 Post a commentMIPS Technologies Inc. is upgrading two of its cores and introducing a new instruction set architecture to expand the company's relatively small presence in 32-bit microcontrollers and leverage its strength in wired consumer systems to attack sockets in wireless devices.

Atheros targets cellphone with Wi-Fi chipNews & Analysis 11/2/2009 1 commentAtheros Communications debuts a Wi-Fi chip for cellphones that supports a single-stream version of the latest 802.11n standard, attacking giants such as Broadcom and Texas Instruments who have been winning sockets in handsets with .11g chips that have integrated Bluetooth and FM radio features.

Altera announces Cyclone IV FPGAsProduct News 11/2/2009 Post a commentAltera announced the newest Cyclone low-cost FPGA family, which adds support for mainstream serial protocols as well as a rich supply of logic, memory and DSP capabilities. The company also rolled out version 9.1 of its Quartus II design software.

SEMI Europe launches new thrust for fundingProduct News 11/2/2009 Post a commentChip equipment vendors' organization SEMI Europe has rendered more precisely its demands towards the European Commission for better business conditions. For its European clientele, the organization demanded incentives comparable to those in the US and in Asia.

September averaged global chip sales show 8.2% growthNews & Analysis 11/2/2009 Post a commentThe three-month average of global sales of semiconductors rose to $20.64 billion in September, up 8.2 percent from an upwardly revised $19.07 billion in August, and down 10.1 percent from September 2008, according to the European Semiconductor Industry Association.

Automotive PMIC aims to reduce car-battery loadProduct News 11/2/2009 Post a commentSTMicroelectronics has unveiled its new power management chip that addresses the carmakers' challenge to reduce the stand-by current consumption (quiescent current), at a time when the number of power-consuming products in the car is continuously increasing.

In conjunction with unveiling of EE Times’ Silicon 60 list, journalist & Silicon 60 researcher Peter Clarke hosts a conversation on startups in the electronics industry. One of Silicon Valley's great contributions to the world has been the demonstration of how the application of entrepreneurship and venture capital to electronics and semiconductor hardware can create wealth with developments in semiconductors, displays, design automation, MEMS and across the breadth of hardware developments. But in recent years concerns have been raised that traditional venture capital has turned its back on hardware-related startups in favor of software and Internet applications and services. Panelists from incubators join Peter Clarke in debate.